Tag Archives: googl

Tesla Stock Continues To Lose Spark, Tumbles To 2-Year Low

Loading the player… Electric-car maker Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) was once a high-flying stock, but after months of moving more or less sideways, the stock has now punctured its lowest level in two years. The downturn comes as analysts raise concerns over deliveries and demand, with Pacific Crest downgrading the stock to sell on Wednesday. And on Tuesday Morgan Stanley, which had been very bullish on Tesla in the past, slashed its price target to 333 from 450. Shares plunged 5.1% in heavy volume, hitting their lowest level since February 2014. Shares are now trading about 40% below their July high, reached as the stock failed to break out of a base. Tesla stands apart from other car manufacturers as a luxury electric-car maker, but it has also been at the forefront of the implementation of self-driving technology. Others are in pursuit, including Mobileye ( MBLY ), Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google, Baidu ( BIDU ) and potentially Apple ( AAPL ). Mobileye is trading 60% below its high reached in August. Shares have been seeing heavy volume on many down days. Alphabet dropped 4%, sinking below the key 50-day line in quick turnover and erasing much of its gains from the past four sessions. Alphabet had hit a record high Tuesday intraday. Baidu is trading over 30% below its 52-week high. Shares have been trending lower since November. Apple has also been trending lower for the past several months and is 28% below its April peak. But shares are up today, pushing Apple’s market cap back above Alphabet’s once again after the Google parent grabbed that crown on Tuesday. Tesla reports quarterly earnings in one week.

Google Draws Wrath Of AT&T, Pay-TV Industry On FCC Set-Top Proposal

AT&T ( T ) on Wednesday became the latest pay-TV company to lash out at Google parent  Alphabet ( GOOGL ) in the wake of the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to open up the set-top box market to more suppliers. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler last week proposed a new rule that would make it easier for consumers to switch from set-top boxes rented from cable TV companies to devices sold by consumer electronics or Internet companies. Pay-TV providers such as  Comcast ( CMCSA ) lease broadband cable modems as well as set-top-boxes to consumers, charging them on a monthly basis. The FCC aims to make programming bundles sold by pay-TV companies accessible from a wider range of devices. After Wheeler announced the initiative, Google followed up by demonstrating a set-top box to Congressional staffers at its Washington D.C. office, according to the “Future of TV Coalition,” a lobbying group formed by cable TV companies, industry groups, programmers and others. AT&T, in a blog post  on Wednesday, took a shot at Google. “When you get beyond all the hype, Google and its affiliated proponents of this technology mandate are simply trying to take our competitive service and repackage it as their own, without ever having to negotiate with us or with the content owners with whom we had to negotiate to create our service offering. It’s akin to the FCC mandating that we get access to Google’s home page so that we can redesign and rebrand it as our own,” said Stacy Fuller, AT&T vice president of federal regulatory issues. A Comcast blog post  last week said that companies concerned about the FCC proposal include: set-top box maker Arris Group ( ARRS ), Cisco Systems ( CSCO ) and Roku, as well as Walt Disney ( DIS ), 21 st Century Fox ( FOXA ), Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Viacom ( VIA ). Scott Cleland, head of consultancy Precursor Group said: “The FCC would be giving Google access to most of the benefits and business value of their pay-TV competitors for free. The real story here is Google wants to add TV advertising as their next-most-coveted market to dominate.”

Crowded Stocks Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft Still A Buy: Bernstein

Alphabet, Facebook, Intel, Amazon.com and Apple ( AAPL ) rank among the most “crowded” technology and telecom stocks globally, says a Sanford Bernstein research report, which notes that Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Sprint are among the least-crowded large-cap stocks. The Bernstein report says investors should keep in mind what stocks are “crowded,” or highly concentrated, amid market volatility. Still, being among the most crowded doesn’t rule out a favorable stock rating for a stock. So-called crowded stocks are often called growth and momentum stocks. And high institutional ownership is usually a good thing, as IBD’s Investor’s Corner can tell you. “We believe it’s important for investors to include ‘crowding’ as a consideration for their portfolio strategy, especially for technology (which is very crowded), to improve diversification, mitigate downside risk and potentially enhance returns,” said Bernstein analyst Mark Moerdler in the report. The worry with heavily owned stocks is that, given high valuations and high growth expectations, they might take a hit if investors exit the stock market during a broad sell-off. Other analysts at Bernstein rate Alphabet ( GOOGL ) and Amazon ( AMZN ) stocks as a buy, Facebook ( FB ) neutral and Apple outperform, even though Apple also is on the crowded list. Intel ( INTC ) has a hold rating from Bernstein, while Microsoft ( MSFT ) has a buy. On Apple, Moerdler wrote: “The stock has underperformed over the last quarter due to fears of iPhone weakness, which we believe is now largely priced into the stock.” Microsoft “has become increasingly crowded over the last few quarters as investors and sell-side analysts have come to realize the massive opportunity for Microsoft to grow long-term EPS as the company moves to cloud and subscription revenue,” Moerdler said. Among software stocks, he says, “companies that have greater exposure to cloud and recurring revenue (are) showing the most crowding.” According to Moerdler: “Crowded stocks react less positively to good news than un-crowded stocks, but overreact negatively to bad news more so than un-crowded stocks.” Sprint ( S ) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise ( HPE ) have  market perform ratings at Bernstein Research.